Battery Equalization

Canadian Rainbirds wrote:
Though once in a very great while BIL uses red balls. :B

ZING!!

NinerBikes wrote:


Good to know, though here in So Cal, they play golf year round, so the batteries probably are younger and abused more frequently, 365 days a year, so more charge cycles, I suppose. Once in my hands, they will have a relative life of leisure, I would think. I'm not living in the Travel trailer, just boondock every now and then.

BLF13 lives in Victoria BC. They golf year round there too. (Though once in a very great while BIL uses red balls. :B

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
I believe curiosity leads to inevitable education if pursued.

One way or another! :E

I believe curiosity leads to inevitable education if pursued.

PT you could be right, but I think I will leave well enough alone. Perhaps a plate in one cell is stripped of sulphate but so thin it has not long to live or some such. I am not sure why I even care if all cells are the same SG. I know their voltages in series add up, so as long as that total is enough, who cares? :)

Hi BFL13,

Regarding equalizing one cell at a time. Graphite "rods" would be safe to use. Now all you need is a good two volt source of power.

I would load the scrubber battery to 175 ampere for 30 seconds.

Observe the voltmeter needle while loading the battery down. It should NOT start out, dropping slowly, and then speed up dropping faster as voltage gets lower.

This is a vital clue. If it speeds up you have a reactive problem inside the battery. A death knell.

Nor should the needle "skip" say from 11.00 volts down to 9.5 then steady out. This is another death rattle.

The steadier the needle drops the better. As long as it ends up at 9.6 or 4.8. Don't confuse the word STEADY with FAST.

BFL13 wrote:

NinerBikes wrote:

mena661 wrote:
Thanks MEX for the suggestion of using the low cell for equalizing.

Ditto, thanks. So a T1275 should be tested at it's 150 Amps for 30 seconds also? With voltage remaining above 9.6V?

Fingers crossed that I get a battery that's not too big on SG variance. Can't look a gift horse in the mouth.

You better look in its mouth! My source golf car place had the two year old T-1275s that I got, but also had some four year old ones in worse shape. They have a line that is crossed (where they invent their own line) where they toss the old batts as beyond hope.

They do things by minutes of use in a golf car, so if all four T-1275s would no longer do the minimum 100 minutes, they swapped them out. Mine did 86 minutes in their group of four and somebody else got two of them and then later I got the other two.

I would not take the marginal four year old ones that were one step away from the junk bin at 70 some minutes, even though they were going for less money than the two-year old ones.

We have to have some standards, even though we are cheap as heck! :)

Good to know, though here in So Cal, they play golf year round, so the batteries probably are younger and abused more frequently, 365 days a year, so more charge cycles, I suppose. Once in my hands, they will have a relative life of leisure, I would think. I'm not living in the Travel trailer, just boondock every now and then.

NinerBikes wrote:

mena661 wrote:
Thanks MEX for the suggestion of using the low cell for equalizing.

Ditto, thanks. So a T1275 should be tested at it's 150 Amps for 30 seconds also? With voltage remaining above 9.6V?

Fingers crossed that I get a battery that's not too big on SG variance. Can't look a gift horse in the mouth.

You better look in its mouth! My source golf car place had the two year old T-1275s that I got, but also had some four year old ones in worse shape. They have a line that is crossed (where they invent their own line) where they toss the old batts as beyond hope.

They do things by minutes of use in a golf car, so if all four T-1275s would no longer do the minimum 100 minutes, they swapped them out. Mine did 86 minutes in their group of four and somebody else got two of them and then later I got the other two.

I would not take the marginal four year old ones that were one step away from the junk bin at 70 some minutes, even though they were going for less money than the two-year old ones.

We have to have some standards, even though we are cheap as heck! :)

mena661 wrote:
Thanks MEX for the suggestion of using the low cell for equalizing.

Ditto, thanks. So a T1275 should be tested at it's 150 Amps for 30 seconds also? With voltage remaining above 9.6V?

Fingers crossed that I get a battery that's not too big on SG variance. Can't look a gift horse in the mouth.